ANN MCFEATTERS | Changing the subject instead of hard decisions

Facing a possible government shutdown next month, the Republican-led House is tying itself in knots over ... abortion, trying to get the public riled up yet again about an issue the Supreme Court tried to settle back in 1973. What happened to last November's GOP mantra: "Jobs, jobs, jobs"?

And if abortion is made illegal again, how will strapped-for-cash governments pay for millions of babies born to unwed, bereft mothers, especially with family planning and social services being axed?

Unable to balance their budgets, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, among others, are declaring war on public workers — toll takers, public health nurses and teachers. Walker's effort to take bargaining rights away from public sector unions seems especially ironic after Wisconsin unions agreed to give back benefits in exchange for keeping their right to bargain and organize.

If thousands of public workers are thrown out of their jobs and if private employers keep refusing to hire new workers, how will the economy ever be revitalized? We've all met incompetent, ornery DMV clerks now and then, but many public workers perform vital services. They are our neighbors, not horned, winged aliens.

Apparently, the true horned, winged aliens are missing legislators. Some Democrats have taken to hiding in dreary motels to try to prevent votes on collective bargaining. Wisconsin legislators who don't show up for work won't get their paychecks. Too bad they can't bunk in the Washington offices of Tea Partiers who say the legislative week isn't long enough to bother renting apartments.

President Barack Obama has been trying to figure out how to respond to the explosive demand for freedom in the Middle East, government-ordered bloodshed in Libya and Iran's growing power. So he decided the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA, as it's known in governmentese), which says the federal government will not recognize same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional. Thus the Justice Department will no longer defend it in court.

Responding to threats of a government shutdown if Republicans' don't get spending cuts they seek, Obama raised the specter of seniors not getting Social Security checks. Since that did not happen when former House Speaker Newt Gingrich shut down the government during the Clinton era, what gives? It turns out Obama was referring to seniors who may have moved, are having current problems getting checks by mail, etc.

At any rate, No. 2 House GOP leader Eric Cantor says Americans no longer desire "government-sponsored financial security." They worry explosive government is destroying their "interest in earning success." He wants the national conversation to focus on Americans' rejection of a "government-funded future."

With oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, threatening the growth of the gross domestic product, some are focused on the increasing girth of our pets. Yes, this poses a threat to animal health, but should an anxious pet owner, beset with worry about out-of-control home heating costs and $4-a-gallon gasoline, be blamed for giving loyal Sparky an extra treat?

As the war in Afghanistan goes on and on, Washington is in an uproar over whether visiting senators were subjected to psychological operations (psy ops in military parlance) to induce them to provide more troops and money to the war effort. Investigations are underway. Are our legislators, even John McCain and Joe Lieberman, really that susceptible to manipulation? Don't they always vote for more money and more soldiers for war?

My own personal favorite change of subject in the face of catastrophe is endless speculation over whether Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman famous for making no sense, and Donald Trump, the self-promoter famous for firing people on TV, will run for president.